Aroma Bakehouse

Middlegate Aroma Bakery - The History:

Mr. Cornelius Hiemstra after working for Valley Bakery in Burnaby, BC, Canada as a baker, decided to open his own bakery in 1960. By their German-Swiss background soon they were famous with their Danish Rye Basket Bread, Copenhagen Pastry and the famous Vanilla Slice.

Hard-working Hiemstra family decided to retire. The year was 1975. A new and young Chinese couple, Kim and Jennifer Wong started their training and work under supervision of Mr. Cornelius Hiemstra. Kim and Jennifer Wong worked for thirty-seven good years. When the Middlegate Mall was demolished and rezoned in 2004, the corporation renamed it as Highgate Village Mall, but the Middlegate Bakery stood up to keep the name of the Middlegate alive.

In 2005, they put the Middlegate Bakery business for sale. Chef Reza Amiri, living then in Royal Oak Avenue in Burnaby, wanted so badly to buy the business, but he was just a new – comer without enough money in pocket. The memory of his two bakeries back home was always with him. Chef Reza Amiri, an Iranian baker, worked very hard all those years in different bakeries in North Vancouver and Coquitlam. He even was able to own the half of Minoo (Nina) Bakery in Coquitlam Centre and buy a house in North Vancouver, when he heard that Kim sold the business to a Russian couple in 2012, who sold the business to Chef Reza only after seven months being in business.

Since September 2012, the Middlegate Bakery face a new renovation in name and products based on the new demands and expectation of new margins in society: vegetarians, wheat-free products, Middle Eastern breads, and more variety of European-Canadian pastries.

Written by Sonya Govahi (Narges)